BMW M3: an E30 dream becomes reality

18 November, 2015

Most of us can remember when we first became passionate about cars — and certain makes at that. For me, I remember getting a ride as a 10-year-old in a Subaru WRX rally car. I’ll never forget being strapped into that bucket seat, and getting airborne over a local speed bump just near my house, narrowly missing a wandering dog upon landing. Another vivid memory around the same time was a ride in an ’80s Honda Prelude Si, with a DOHC 16-valve two-litre. I will never forget the howl that the factory two-litre motor produced near redline — cementing my passion for the H badge for years to come.

For Gabor Mester, he fell in love with cars whilst at a family friend’s place where he stumbled into a BMW M3 E30 in their garage. Throughout his teens he would go over and offer to wash and clean the vehicle for the owners, just to be around its bulbous ’80s curves. Fast forward a few years, Gabor now owns that particular vehicle — and after seven years of ownership, the passion continues to grow.

Travelling companion

It’s easy to see why the Morris Minor Traveller was one of the best-loved variants of the Morris Minor. Introduced in 1953, it was equipped with the same independent torsion bar front suspension, drum brakes, and rack and pinion steering as its saloon sibling but, with their foldable rear seat increasing versatility, many Travellers were used as trade vehicles, says Derek Goddard. Derek and Gail Goddard, the owners of this superbly restored example, have run Morris Minors since before they were married in 1974.
“Our honeymoon vehicle was a blue Morris Minor van — it was a rust bucket,” says Derek.

Super Leicht Gullwing

It’s fair to say that nothing much in the classic Mercedes world gets past Mercedes-Benz Club stalwart Garry Boyce so it wasn’t surprising to learn that around 15 years ago he had sniffed out an extremely rare 300SL lightweight Gullwing as well as a 1958 300SL Roadster hiding away in the Waikato. The cars were not for sale but Garry eventually managed to persuade the owner to allow him and his restoration team to take a look at the Roadster. They discovered a very distressed but largely unmolested car. The car was so original that the body had never been off the chassis, meaning most of the parts and fittings were still present and correct, as they had been fitted by the factory.